Friday, February 28, 2014

Kimi Raikkonen putting miles upon his new sled, the
F14T at Jerez. (Image source: f1fanatic.co.uk)

Apparently la Scuderia, nee Ferrari was once
again the first F1 Constructor to show off its wares for the 2014 season via
the A-L-L knowing "Intrawoods" (Internetz) with a few computer
assisted rendering teases.

And while Ferrari's front nose treatment
isn't beautiful, like all of its competitors, nevertheless I'm somewhat
surprised to hear that they've kept the much unloved front Pullrod layout in
favour of the more traditional Pushrod layout that most of the competition
utilizes.

And you already know about the much publized
driver switch, with Kimi Raikkonen replacing Felipe Massa after eight years at
Maranello, as obviously Ferrari is seeking to recapture the Constructor's crown
at the very least, while also expecting one of its driver's to win the world
championship with probably the nod going to Fernando Alonso, but will Kimi play
along?

By now, I'm ARSE-sumin' Y'all know 'bout Red
Bull's less than impressive beginnings to this season's winter testing at
Jerez, where the Quadruple Double World Champions saw nothing but a host of
reliability issues being chalked up to the Renault V-6 turbo power unit, albeit
cooling and turbocharger issues also resultedfrom Adrian Newey's overly tight 'Aero-packaging...

And as what apparently will bede riggour this year, the RB10 will sport one
of the UGLY noses which are commonplace this season due to the rules package,
as really FIA? You cannot figure out how to avoid this?

Meanwhile on the driver side, I see that
"TWINKIEBOY," aka Seb' Vettel is being his usual typical graceful
self by stating that new-boy Daniel
Ricciardo will have to go it his own way and shouldn't
expect any help from the reigning world champion... Uhm, so glad to hear you're
such a team player Sebastian; Oh Never Mind! As I'm really looking forward to
both of the Mercedes and Ferrari's beating you this year...

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Finnish Phenom' Valtteri Bottas behind the
wheel of the new FW36 at Jerez. (Image source: f1fanatic.co.uk)

The storied Formula 1 Constructor Williams,
which we all know under the watchful tutelage of team founder Sir Frank
(Williams) and departed co-owner Patrick Head has struggled in the past few
years to live up to the heights of expectations, after all being the second
most successful Constructor on the grid - having fallen to a lowly ninth place
in the Constructor's title fight last season with a measly 5-points.

Thus Team 'Willy has brought on a raft of new
key engineering personnel, including new Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds to
lead the charge in the Grove-based squad's resurgence, which the team hopes to
do so this season.

Reportedly the front nose utilizes a
"finger" style treatment to conform with the new rules package while
the biggest technical change is the ditching of 'Reggie (Renault) power and
taking on their very first ever 'Merc lump, as the Mercedes Benz V-6 turbo unit
was the class of the field at this year's first winter test in Jerez.

And while the McLaren MP4-29 has been making
waves with its controversial rear wing suspension treatment, little seems to
being mulled over the Williams FW36's rear suspension treatment which also
features some sort of wing attachment, not to mention its novel wing-flap
underneath its exhaust.

On the driver front, one can only argue that
the team has also improved its lineup with the addition of the amiable
Brazilian Felipe Massa over last year's Hot-head Pastor Maldonado while I'm looking
for great things from F1 sophomore Valtteri Bottas, who's just been
lacking a decent mount to show off his prodigious talents! As I'm looking
forward to seeing the Martini cars - a long rumoured sponsorship deal in the
Pipeline being back up towards the sharp end of the grid this year...